Budget-pinched women’s Talmud program to close

Program was first course to provide stipends to women scholars in order to facilitate long-term study of Talmudic texts.

Talmud [illustrative]_370.
(photo credit:Thinkstock/Imagebank)

The Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies, a respected and popular religious
seminary, has announced that it will be closing its flagship course in Talmudic
studies due to a shortfall in funds.

Matan’s three-year program, opened
in 1999, was the first course to provide stipends to women scholars in order to
facilitate long-term study of Talmudic texts, and many graduates have themselves
gone on to become teachers at other institutions of religious study.

It
is one of the only centers of religious studies in the country that offers an
advanced level of Talmudic studies for women.

A statement from Matan said
that budgetary constraints resulting from the global economic downturn meant
that it could no longer afford to run the course and finance the
stipends.

Students on the current course will be able to finish their
third and final year of study next year but unless more funds are forthcoming,
the program will close after that.

Dr. Tehilla Elitzur, a lecturer at
Matan and spokeswoman for the institute, lauded the achievements of the Talmud
program, and said that it has been one of the driving factors in bringing women
into the discourse on Jewish law within the country.

“Women represent
half the population, are observant of the Torah and its commandments and so need
to be involved in the debates and discussions of halachic (Jewish law) issues
which affect us all,” said Elitzur.

“The more women are involved, the
more they can contribute to growth in the love of Torah and observance of
mitzvot – and encourage greater interest in religious observance from the
non-religious community,” she said.

Elitzur added that after hundreds of
years in which women have been excluded from the kind of Talmudic education
provided by Matan, there is a need to provide them with the opportunity to enter
this realm and receive a high standard of instruction.

Every course
intake consists of approximately 12 students on average, with a total of 60
graduates.

Shani Taragin, a halachic adviser in Gush Etzion and Jerusalem
and a teacher at Matan and several other religious seminaries for women, said
the accessibility of advanced Talmudic studies to women is “intrinsic and
instrumental for the advancement of women in Torah learning” and that there must
be opportunities for women to delve into study of the Oral Law in a long-term
framework.

“It’s essential for women to be able to study the Oral Law at
the highest levels in order to afford them the opportunity, if they so wish, to
be actively involved in Jewish leadership and education. To do so, women have to
know the Talmud inside and out,” she said.

As to the current financial
obstacles Matan’s program is facing, Taragin said that advanced Talmud study for
women is still not widely accepted, and at present, only a unique group of elite
women go on to devote their lives to it.

“People are conflicted – if it’s
a [choice between] giving to an institute where 1,000 people are studying Talmud
and one where 15 people are doing so, they are more likely to go for the
former.

And there is still a lack of appreciation for the value and need
of women as leaders and advanced educators,” she said.